Bed rail structure



Feb; 9 P. c. UNDERDOWN, JR 3,363,227

BED RAIL STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 11, 1962 a '14 I i 16' i14 I I w m 1 5 ---22 f I I 1 i l z2- d U V 3 75 W a q q I I 1 i v i 5 vV \J E z? l I I l INVENTOR.

PARKS C- UNDERDOWN, IR.

ATTORNEY Feb. 13, 1968 c. UNDERDOWN, JR 3,368,227

BED RAIL STRUCTURE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1962 R M m N0 Wm mm X0 c w M PWM.

Fig. 6'

ATTORNEY Feb. 13, 1968 Filed Dec 11, 1962 P, C, UNDERDOWN, JR

BED RAIL STRUCTURE 5 Sheets-Sheet S fizz? I N VEN TOR. PARKS c.wvomomlw, m

United States Patent 3,368,227 BED RAIL STRUCTURE Parks C. Underdown,Jr., Hickory, N.C., assignor to Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co., Inc.,Hickory, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Continuation-impart ofapplication Ser. No. 212,626,

July 26, 1962. This application Dec. 11, 1962, Ser. No. 244,241

7 Claims. (Cl. --296) This invention relates in general to bed railsarranged for assembly on crosspins in vertically slotted bed posts, andmore particularly to an improved structure for such a bed rail by whichthe difliculty of suiting the bed rail structure for assembly at agenerally consistent widthwise spacing with bed posts slotted at varyingspacings is provided for advantageously. This application is acontinuation-in-part of my c-opending application, Ser. No. 212,626,filed July 26, 196-2, and now abandoned.

Bed rails of the type to which the present invention relates arecommonly formed of metal and comprise a rail member of angle shape incross section with a length proportioned for extending between the headand foot boards of a bed to form the frame on which a bedspring andmattress may be sup-ported. Conventionally, the bed posts at each sideof the head and foot boards are vertically slotted and fitted withcrosspins at which hook plates provided on each end of the rail membersmay be engaged to assemble and secure the bed frame.

Upon such assembly, the rail members serve in the nature of beams forcarrying the boxspring and mattress; and, if the widthwise spacing ofthe rail members is proper, the boxspring may be placed directly thereonso as to be positioned by the angle shape thereof without thetroublesome need for cross slats extended between the rails beneath theboxspring. Bed manufacturers, however, do not use a standard widthwisespacing in slotting the bed posts, and as they ordinarily purchase thebed rails as a stock item from other manufacturers, it has generallybeen impossible heretofore to eliminate the cross slats and employ therails alone for carrying the box spring. There have been several priorart proposals for dealing with this difliculty by providing for lateraladjustment of the hook plates on the rails, but these proposals havetended to introduce undesirable structural complication and to involveproblems of inadequate strength or undue manufacturing cost.

The bed rail structure of the present invention is characterized by anexceptional simplicity of structure that involves no more complicationor manufacturing expense than the conventional bed rails previouslyemployed, and that is advantageously strong and convenient to use; allas described in further detail below in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation showing one end portion of a bedrail structure embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a related left end elevation of the bracket member shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a corresponding end elevation showing a modified form of theFIG. 2 bracket member;

FIG. 4 is an additional corresponding end elevation showing a secondmodified form of the FIG. 2 bracket member;

FIG. 5 is a plan detail of a hook plate suitable for use with the FIG. 4bracket member;

FIG. 6 is a further end elevation showing a third modification of theFIG. 2 bracket member;

FIG. 7 is a plan detail of a hook plate suitable for use with the FIG. 6bracket member.

FIG. 8 is a second fragmentary side elevation corre- 3,368,227 PatentedFeb. 13, 1968 sponding generally to FIG. 1, but showing an additionallymodified arrangement of the FIG. 1 bracket member by which theassociated hook plate is held against removal or separation therefrom;

FIG. 9 is a related left end elevation of the FIG. 8 bracket member; and

FIG. 10 is a right side elevation showing the FIG. 8 bracket member asoriginally formed for association with the related hook plate.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates thearrangement of a bed rail structure, as indicated generally by thereference numeral 10, in which an angle shaped rail member is arranged,as shown at 11, with one flange of its angle shape disposed verticallyand the other disposed at the bottom of the rail and extendinghorizontally (as at 11') to provide a supporting ledge for a boxspring(not shown).

Endwise of the rail 11, and at the outer face of the vertically disposedflange thereof, a bracket member 12 is secured in fixed relation byrivets, as indicated at 13, or the like. It will be understood that anexactly similar bracket member 12, except for being of the opposite handwill be secured in the same manner at the other end of the rail 11.

The bracket member 12 is formed with a transverse flange portion 14 thatis arranged for bearing in face to face relation with a bed post (asindicated by dotted lines at B in FIG. 1) over a vertically extendedarea, and is also arranged for selective assembly with a hook plate 15by which the cross pins (as indicated in dotted lines at P and P) may beengaged within a conventional bed post slot (not shown). a

The arrangement of the bracket member flange portion 14 for selectiveassembly with the hook plate 15 is best shown in FIG. 2, in which thisflange portion 14 is seen to have upper and lower apertures 16 and 17spaced vertically therein that are basically rectangular and that havetheir top and bottom edges notched in vertical alignment (as at 16 and16", and 17' and 17") at a plurality of laterally spaced positions. Inany one bracket member 12 only the top edges of the flange portionapertures 16 and 17 need to be notched, but if both the top and bottomedges are notched as shown, the same bracket member 12 will be ofinterchangeable hand and may be used at either end of the rail 11.

The related form of the hook plate 15 comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, anarrangement of upper and lower arm portions 18 and 19 that areproportioned for respective extension through the flange portionapertures 16 and 17 and have the top edges thereof notched in verticalalignment, at 18' and 19, for selective seating at one of the laterallyspaced positions defined by the top edge aperture notches 16 and 17' ofthe bracket member flange portion 14. Otherwise, the hook plate 15 isformed at its opposite side with hook portions 20 and 21 for engagingthe previously mentioned bed post crosspins P and P, after having beenselectively assembled with the bracket member 12 for the widthwise bedrail spacing needed in the particular instance.

Alternatively, the bracket member 12 may be formed as shown in FIG. 3with a flange portion 14 having upper and lower vertically elongatedapertures 22 and 23 spaced vertically therein at a plurality oflaterally spaced positions for selective assembly in the same generalmanner with the arm portions 18 and 19 of the hook plate 15. This FIG. 3modification requires the hook plate 15 to be removed and reinsertedeach time it is shifted between the laterally spaced positions provided,but the separately constituted apertures 22 and 23 at each position havesome tendency to strengthen and stabilize the hook plate assembly andmay be preferable where particularly heavy loads are to be carried.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 a still further modified form of brackct member 24 andhook plate 25 is illustrated in which the bracket member flange portion26 is formed with an increased plurality of vertically elongatedapertures spaced vertically therein, as at 27, 28, 29 and 30 in FIG. 4,and at a plurality of laterally spaced positions; while the related FIG.5 hook plate 25 is formed with a corresponding vertically spacedplurality of arm portions 31, 32, 33 and 34 that have an upwardlyinclined disposition for respective extension through and seatingupwardly in a selected set of the flange portion apertures 27 to 30.

A third possible modification is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in which theillustrated FIG. 6 bracket member 35 has the flange 36 thereof formedwith upper and lower vertically spaced apertures 37 and 38, which areagain basically rectangular, but which have the top and bottom edgesthereof notched in vertical alignment at one side and to an extendeddepth, as indicated at 39 and 40, and to a limited or lesser depth at aplurality of laterally spaced positions across these edges, as indicatedat 41 and 42. The hook plate 43 provided, as shown in FIG. 7, for usewith the FIG. 6 bracket member 35 has the upper and lower arm portions44 and 45 thereof proportioned for extension through the bracket memberapertures 37 and 38 only at the extended depth notches 39 and but thesearm portions 44 and are narrowed at their root so as to be manipulablesidewise in the apertures 37 and 38 for selective seating at one of thelaterally spaced positions defined by the limited depth notches 4.1 and42.

In all of the embodiments noted above, it will be seen that therespective bracket members and hook plates are associated so that theload to be supported by the bed rail structure is transferred throughthe bracket members to the hook plates at a plurality of points and isthereby distributed advantageously to make possible the use of theextremely simple form of hook plate shown, which in turn makes itpossible to provide readily for the desired adjustment between thebracket members and the hook plates to obtain a particular widthwisespacing of the bed rails as they are assembled as components of aparticular bed frame.

A further modification of the same basic arrangement is shown in FIGS.8, 9 and 10, by which the hook plate is integrated with the bracketmember so as to be confined thereon against removal, while remainingfree for selective lateral seating as in the other previously describedembodiments.

FIG. 8 shows this further modification incorporated in a bed railstructure that is designated generally by the reference numberal 100,and that incorporates an angle shaped rail member 101 fitted with abracket member 102 in general correspondence with the FIG. 1 embodiment.

The bracket member 102 is again formed with a transverse flange portion103 provided for bearing in face to face relation with a bed post (as atB in FIG. 8) and arranged to have a hook plate 104 by which the crosspins (as at P and P in FIG. 8) may be engaged within a conventional bedpost slot (not shown).

The arrangement of this FIG. 8 bracket member 102 for association withthe hook 104 differs in that the upper and lower assembly apertures 105and 106 in its flange portion 103 are related so as to hold hook plate104 against removal. As in the FIG. 1 embodiment, both of the assemblyapertures 105 and 106 have top edges that are notched, as at 105 and106, at a plurality of laterally spaced positions so as to engage upperand lower hook plate arm portions 107 and 108 at vertically alignednotches 107 and 108' therein (compare FIGS. 8 and 9).

The lower assembly aperture 106, however, has a lower edge 106" that issituated to limit the lengthwise extent of this aperture so that thehook plate arm portion 108 extending therethrough cannot be removed.That is, the spaced relation of the lower aperture bottom edge 106" willprevent the arm portion 108 being lowered enough to clear the top edgeof aperture 106 for removal, while still allowing sufficient lowering toclear the projections between the top edge notches 106 through the armportion notch 108 for selective lateral shifting and seating of the hookplate 104 in association with the bracket member 102.

To provide for this manner of association, the bracket member flange 103is initially formed, as seen in FIG. 10, with a bottom edge portion 109at its lower aperture 106 that is displaced backwardly to permitoriginal insertion of the hook plate arm portion 108 therethroughwithout hindrance by the aperture bottom edge 106". Then, upon insertionof the hook plate arm portions 107 and 108 in properly associatedrelation at the apertures and 106, the bottom edge portion 109 at thelower aperture 106 is returned to a flush disposition in the bracketmember flange 103, so as to present the bottom edge 106" for limitingthe lengthwise extent of aperture 106 as noted above.

The result of this arrangement is to provide an integrated assembly ofthe hook plate 104 with the bracket member 102 so that the hook plate104 is no longer a separable element subject to being misplaced or lostand requiring special assembly attention when it is put into use.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be limited by this descriptionor otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in a slotted bed post,said bed rail structure comprising a bracket member having a flangeportion disposed for bearing in face to face relation with said bed postat the cross pin slot therein, said flange portion having a plurality ofapertures spaced therein and formed for defining at least two loadimposing points in lengthwise relation to said crosspin slot and foradditionally defining at least two laterally spaced positions for saidload imposing points, and a hook plate having spaced arm portions forremovably engaging said spaced flange portion apertures at all of saidload imposing points and selectively at one of said laterally spacedpositions and having hook portions for engaging said bed post crosspins.

2. A bed rail structure for assmbly on crosspins in vertically slottedbed posts, said bed rail structure comprising a bed rail having abracket member secured at each end thereof, each of said bracket membersbeing formed with a transverse flange portion for bearing in face toface relation with one of said bed posts over a vertically extended areaat the crosspin slot therein, each such flange portion having upper andlower rectangular apertures spaced vertically therein with the top edgesof said apertures notched in vertical alignment at a plurality oflaterally spaced positions, a hook plate for each of said bracketmembers having upper and lower arm positions proportioned for respectiveextension through said flange portion apertures, the top edge of each ofsaid arm portions being notched in vertical alignment with the other forselective seating in said flange portion notches at one of saidlaterally spaced positions, and said hook plate having hook portionsextending oppositely with respect to said arm portions for engaging saidbed post crosspins.

3. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in vertically slottedbed posts, said bed rail structure comprising a bed rail having abracket member secured at each end thereof, each of said bracket membersbeing formed with a transverse flange portion for bearing in face toface relation with one of said bed posts over a vertically extended areaat the crosspin slot therein, each such flange portion having upper andlower vertically elongated apertures spaced vertically therein at aplurality of laterally spaced positions, a hook plate for each of saidbracket members having upper and lower arm portions proportioned forrespective extension through a selected set of said upper and lowerflange portion apertures, the top edge of each of said arm portionsbeing notched in vertical alignment for seating at the top ends of saidflange portion apertures, and said hook plate having hook portionsextending oppositely with respect to said arm portions for engaging saidbed post crosspins.

4. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in vertically slottedbed posts, said bed rail structure comprising a bed rail having abracket member secured at each end thereof, each of said bracket membersbeing formed with a transverse flange portion for bearing in face toface relation with one of said bed posts over a vertically extended areaat the crosspin slot therein, each such flange portion having aplurality of vertically elongated apertures spaced vertically therein ata plurality of laterally spaced positions, a hook plate having acorresponding vertically spaced plurality of arm portions formed with anupwardly inclined disposition for respective extension through andseating upwardly in a selected set of said vertically spaced flangeportion apertures, and said hook plate having downwardly inclinded hookportion extending oppositely with respect to said arm portions forengaging said bed post crosspins.

5. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in vertically slottedbed posts, said bed rail structure comprising a bed rail having abracket member secured at each end thereof, each of said bracket membersbeing formed with a transverse flange portion for bearing in face toface relation with one of said bedposts over a vertically extended areaat the cross pin slot therein, each such flange portion having upper andlower apertures spaced vertically therein, said apertures beingbasically rectangular with the top and bottom edges thereof notched inVertical alignment at one side to an extended depth and to a limiteddepth at a plurality of laterally spaced positions across said edges, ahook plate for each of said bracket members having upper and lower armportions proportioned for respective extension through said flangeportion apertures only at said side notches of extended depth but beingnarrowed at the roof thereof for selective sidewise manipulation to andseating at the limited depth notches at one of said laterally spacedpositions, and said hook plate also having hook portions extendingoppositely with respect to said arm portions for engaging said bed postcrosspins.

6. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in a slotted bed post,said bed rail structure comprising a bracket member having a flangeportion disposed for bearing in face to face relation with said bed postat the crosspin slot therein, said flange portion have apertures spacedtherein for defining at least two load imposing points in lengthwiserelation to said crosspin slot and for additionally defining at leasttwo laterally spaced positions for said load imposing points, a hookplate having spaced arm portions extending through said apertures forengaging said flange portion at all of said load imposing points andselectively at one of said laterally spaced positions, with at least oneof said apertures being limited in lengthwise extent so as to confinethe hook plate arm portion extended therethrough against removal, andsaid hook plate also having hook portions extending oppositely withrespect to said arm portions for engaging said bed post crosspins.

7. A bed rail structure for assembly on crosspins in vertically slottedbed posts, said bed rail structure comprising a bed rail having abracket member secured at each end thereof, each of said bracket membersbeing formed with a transverse flange portion for bearing in face toface relation with one of said bed posts over a vertically extended areaat the crosspin slot therein, each such flange portion having upper andlower rectangular apertures spaced vertically therein with the top edgesof said apertures notched in vertical alignment at a plurality oflaterally spaced positions, a hook plate for each of said bracketmembers having upper and lower arm portions extended through said armportion apertures, the top edge of each of said arm portions beingnotched in vertical alignment with the other for selective seating insaid flange portion notches at one of said laterally spaced positions,the depth of said arm portion notching and the vertical extent of atleast one of flange portion apertures being relatively proportioned forconfining said hook plate against removal from said flange portion whileallowing said selective seating, and said hook plate also having hookportions extending oppositely with respect to said arm portions forengaging said bed post crosspins.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 223,837 1/1880 Clarkson 52962,666,215 1/ 1954 Harris 5297 2,719,309 10/ 1955 Harris 5296 2,942,2796/ 1960 Von Cannon 5296 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner.

1. A BED RAIL STRUCTURE FOR ASSEMBLY ON CROSSPINS IN A SLOTTED BED POST,SAID BED RAIL STRUCTURE COMPRISING A BRACKET MEMBER HAVING A FLANGEPORTION DISPOSED FOR BEARING IN FACE TO FACE RELATION WITH SAID BED POSTAT THE CROSS PIN SLOT THEREIN, SAID FLANGE PORTION HAVING A PLURALITY OFAPERTURES SPACED THEREIN AND FORMED FOR DEFINING AT LEAST TWO LOADIMPOSING POINTS IN LENGTHWISE RELATION TO SAID CROSSPIN SLOT AND FORADDITIONALLY DEFINING AT LEAST TWO LATERALLY SPACED POSITIONS FOR SAIDLOAD IMPOSING POINTS, AND A HOOK PLATE HAVING SPACED ARM PORTIONS FORREMOVABLY ENGAGING SAID SPACED FLANGE PORTION APERTURES AT ALL OF SAIDLOAD IMPOSING POINTS AND SELECTIVELY AT ONE OF SAID LATERALLY SPACEDPOSITIONS AND HAVING HOOK PORTIONS FOR ENGAGING SAID BED POST CROSSPINS.